''Deep Diver'' was the name of a deep-sea scientific research
submersible
A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term "submersible" is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully self-sufficient craft, capable of ind ...
built by
Edwin Albert Link
Edwin Albert Link (July 26, 1904 – September 7, 1981) was an American inventor, entrepreneur and pioneer in aviation, underwater archaeology, and submersibles. He invented the flight simulator, which was called the "Blue Box" or "Link Train ...
. ''Deep Diver'' was the first small submersible designed for lockout diving, allowing divers to leave and enter the craft while underwater. It was first launched in January 1966.
Construction and design
''Deep Diver'' was initially known as the ''Perry-Link'' #4 and was built in
Riviera Beach, Florida
Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary, it is also the easternmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to ...
by the
Perry Submarine Company. Its name was subsequently changed to ''Deep Diver'' and its ownership transferred to Link's company,
Ocean Systems, Inc. The submersible contained two compartments: a divers' compartment, developed from Link's earlier work with his Submersible Decompression Chamber (SDC), which allowed divers to be compressed to the ambient pressure of the ocean and leave the submersible to work underwater, and a pilots' compartment which remained at surface pressure, allowing the pilot and an observer to make dives without undergoing
decompression. The two compartments were connected by a hatch which could be sealed off. ''Deep Diver'' was the first modern diver lock-out submersible.
[Busby, pp. 55-56.]
''Deep Diver'' was long and tall. It weighed 8.25 tons dry. It allowed one pilot and three observers to dive for a total of 32 man-hours to a depth limit of . Divers could lock-out through a bottom hatch to a maximum depth of . Both the pilot' and divers' compartments were made of rolled and welded T1 steel, tall. ''Deep Divers main hatch was in diameter. The submersible featured no manipulators. It had twenty-one acrylic plastic viewports. The ballast and trim tanks provided and of positive buoyancy, respectively, when emptied. A large battery pod containing four battery banks could be jettisoned in an emergency, providing an additional of buoyancy.
Undersea missions
''Deep Diver'' carried out many scientific missions in 1967 and 1968 operated from Link's underwater research vessel, ''
Sea Diver''. These included a lockout dive in 1967 (at the same location as the 1964 Man in Sea dive by
Robert Sténuit
Robert Pierre André Sténuit (born 1933 in Brussels) is a Belgian journalist, writer, and underwater archeologist. In 1962 he spent 24 hours on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea in the submersible "Link Cylinder" developed by Edwin Link, thus b ...
and
Jon Lindbergh
Jon Morrow Lindbergh (August 16, 1932 – July 29, 2021) was an American underwater diver. He worked as a United States Navy demolition expert and as a commercial diver, and was one of the world's earliest aquanauts in the 1960s. He was also ...
) and a lockout dive near
Great Stirrup Cay
Great Stirrup Cay is a Sloan, Gene (June 24, 2017). "Norwegian Cruise's private Caribbean isle gets a serious spruce up". ''Times-Colonist'' (Victoria, British Columbia). p. D5. island that is part of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas. Norwegian C ...
in 1968. Dr.
Joseph B. MacInnis
Joseph Beverly MacInnis D.Sc. (born 2 March 1937) is a Canadian physician, author, and diver. In 1974, MacInnis was the first scientist to dive in the near-freezing waters beneath the North Pole. In 1976 he became a member of the Order of Cana ...
participated in both of these dives as an observer in ''Deep Divers forward chamber.
In September 1967 ''Deep Diver'' carried out a classified Ocean Systems mission on the
Grand Banks
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...
south of
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. A cable plow, rumored to be used for burying a strategic communications cable, had been lost in of water. Two Navy divers had already died trying to recover it. A crew of four Ocean Systems personnel, including MacInnis, unsuccessfully attempted to recover the cable plow using the submersible. The mission was called off due to rising winds, and ''Deep Diver'' was barely brought safely back aboard the
Canadian Coast Guard
The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...
vessel CCGS ''John Cabot''.
[MacInnis, pp. 81-90.]
Decommissioning
Later in 1968, after ''Deep Diver'' had been requisitioned by the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
to help search for the lost submarine
USS ''Scorpion'', the
Bureau of Ships The United States Navy's Bureau of Ships (BuShips) was established by Congress on 20 June 1940, by a law which consolidated the functions of the Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) and the Bureau of Engineering (BuEng). The new bureau was to ...
determined that ''Deep Diver'' was unsafe for use at great depths or in extremely cold temperatures because of the substitution of the wrong kind of steel, which became brittle in cold water, in some parts of the sub.
Link proceeded to design a new lockout sub with a distinctive acrylic bubble as the forward pilot/observer compartment. In January 1971 the new sub was launched and commissioned to the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
. It was named the ''
Johnson Sea Link
''Johnson Sea Link'' was a type of deep-sea scientific research submersible built by Edwin Albert Link. Link built the first submersible, ''Johnson Sea Link I'', in 1971 at the request of his friend Seward Johnson, founder of the Harbor Branch O ...
'' after its donors, Link and his friend
John Seward Johnson I
John Seward Johnson I (July 14, 1895 – May 23, 1983) was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson). He was also known as J. Seward Johnson Sr. and Seward Johnson. He was a longtime executive and director of Jo ...
.
''Deep Diver'' was decommissioned and donated to the Smithsonian Institution. It was placed on display at the Marine Sciences Center in
Fort Pierce, Florida
Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...
.
References
{{Reflist
Research submarines of the United States
Ships built in Florida
1966 ships